Justin Verlander pitched an excellent game and looked like he has for the majority of the season. (Not counting an eight-run outing last week against Kansas City.)

Delmon Young hit a key three-run home run to break a 1-1 tie and looked a lot like he did in the final month of the 2011 season. (And for the past few weeks, actually.)

Jose Valverde allowed three straight singles in the ninth inning to bring the go-ahead run to the plate, but he got out of the jam and earned his 28th save of the season. (Despite all the baserunners -- and nail-biting for Tigers fans -- Valverde has converted 76 of 80 saves since the start of last season.)

The Tigers won their third straight over the team they have been chasing in the standings. They were proud of their sweep. They deserved to be. But Verlander slid a message into his post-game session with media members that was noteworthy.

"We feel like we made this statement last time," Verlander said, "and obviously we didn’t continue to play great. I think we just need to maintain the intensity we had this series."

Verlander was referring to a three-game series in Detroit shortly after the All-Star break. The Tigers won all three games against the White Sox in a series that began July 20. They went from trailing Chicago by 1 1/2 games to leading Chicago by 1 1/2 games.

That lead was short-lived. After losing two of three in Cleveland in their next series, the Tigers found themselves again trailing the White Sox. They trailed the final few days of July. They trailed the entire month of August.

In fact, since May 1, the Tigers have spent just five days -- July 21-25 -- in first place or in a tie for first place in the Central Division.

They find themselves there again, locked in a dead heat with the White Sox with 29 games to go.

Those who enjoy irony will note that the Cleveland Indians -- the same team the Tigers played after their last sweep of the Sox -- come to town for a three-game series starting Monday.

Those who know what portion of the schedule the Tigers should be most concerned about will note the 10-game road trip that follows those three games against the Indians.

That series starts against on the West Coast against the Los Angeles Angels, a talented team that has clawed its way back into serious playoff contention. Then the Tigers head back to the Central time zone for four games against the White Sox. Then it's three games against the Indians, who have been awful for some time now.

But how the Tigers fare in the first seven games of that road trip could set the tone for the final three. Go 2-5 in the first seven games of that trip and it might be difficult to turn things around overnight.

Of course, the four games against the White Sox are huge. But so are the others.

"This wasn't the Super Bowl," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "This was a game. We had a good weekend. You've got to enjoy it, but in 12 hours we've got the Cleveland Indians coming in here."

Young had similar sentiments.

"We've just got to play good baseball," he said. "We're tied right now. We've got a
four-game set with them, but we've got a series with Cleveland and
Anaheim before we get there, so we've got to play good baseball before
we show up to Chicago."

Yes, the Tigers were enjoying their clutch effort against a division foe that truly has -- as Leyland has said several times in recent days -- "answered every bell" this season. But they know the toughest tests are still ahead.

"You can’t say you’re going to take a playoff-type intensity into every game of the season," Verlander said. "That’s not possible. But coming down to this time of year, there’s no reason to leave anything out there. We’ve got to find a way."

The Tigers have the talent to pull it off. But it won't be easy.

"We just beat a very good team, a team that's been in first place for
most of the year," Leyland said. "It's going to be hard to take that
away from them."